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Photo: Rob Wallator
tough one

Rebels fall 5-1 at home to Oil Kings

Oct 18, 2019 | 11:27 PM

The Red Deer Rebels fell behind early Friday night as they went on to lose 5-1 at the Westerner Park Centrium to the high-flying Edmonton Oil Kings.

A turnover at the Rebels blue line lead to an odd man rush where Riley Sawchuk put the puck into the open net from a nice centering David Kope pass 1:56 into the game for a 1-0 Oil Kings lead.

Halfway through the first period the Oil Kings added another goal on a nice tip-in from Jalen Luypen in front of Rebels goalie Ethan Anders.

Turnovers continued to hurt Red Deer as Josh Williams stripped the puck from Brett Davis in front of the Rebels net allowing Williams to beat Anders for a 3-0 Oil Kings edge through 20 minutes.

In the second, after the Rebels came up empty on their first powerplay of the night, Vladimir Allistrov made it 4-0 with a wrist shot from the right wing that beat Anders.

Just under a minute later, Edmonton ended Anders’ night in net with a powerplay goal from Mathew Robertson just eight seconds into the man advantage. It was a big hill to climb for Red Deer being down 5-0.

The Rebels finally responded late in the second period after their third powerplay opportunity was unsuccessful. Coming fresh off the bench, Chase Leslie was fed a nice breakaway pass from Zak Smith where he beat Edmonton goalie Sebastian Cossa to give the Rebels some life heading into the third.

Unfortunately for Red Deer, the goal from Leslie would be the last goal of the night. The Oil Kings controlled the rest of the game on their way to their third straight win, handing the Rebels their third straight loss in the process.

Cossa made 21 saves for Edmonton while Anders stopped 18 out of 23 shots he saw before being pulled in the second period. Byron Fancy was perfect saving all 16 shots he faced in relief.

Edmonton went 1-for-5 on the powerplay, while shutting down all five powerplay chances the Rebels had. Red Deer was outshot 39-22 on the night.

Game two of the four-game homestand for Red Deer goes Saturday versus the Regina Pats. Catch all the action starting at 6:30 p.m. on 106.7 The Drive with puck drop at 7 p.m.